For the next week, Duke’s Cooper Flagg will have the most talked-about ankle sprain in sports. How quickly it heals is the difference between the Blue Devils entering the NCAA tournament as the favorite to win the national title or as a No. 1 seed vulnerable to an upset.
Flagg suffered the ill-timed injury late in the first half of Duke’s ACC tournament quarterfinal win over Georgia Tech on Thursday. The celebrated freshman leaped for a rebound, landed awkwardly and crumpled to the floor wincing in pain and grabbing his left ankle.
When he could hardly put any weight on his left ankle walking to the Duke bench, Flagg buried his face in a towel and slammed his fist on a chair in frustration. He was helped off the court by two teammates and was taken for further examination via wheelchair.
X-rays on Flagg’s ankle were negative, Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after his team rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to secure a 78-70 victory. When asked if Flagg could play as soon as Friday against either North Carolina or Wake Forest, Scheyer told reporters in Charlotte it was “a real long shot.”
“It’s not worth it,” Scheyer said. “It just isn’t. He was swollen already. It’s not about being ready to go tomorrow. That’s not the most important thing for us. We’ve got to see if we can get him right for this run that we can make in the [NCAA] tournament. So I would have to be really convinced that we should even consider if he can go tomorrow.”
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Credit Scheyer for wisely taking a cautious approach with his best player and for prioritizing getting Flagg as healthy as possible for the tournament that really matters. The truth is that Duke (29-3) already has a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament all but wrapped up. The Blue Devils have little to gain by taking a win-at-all-costs approach to the ACC tournament.
The disaster scenario is rushing Flagg back too quickly and risking re-injury. Hanging another ACC tournament title banner at Cameron Indoor Stadium is not the goal for this Duke team. The Blue Devils are targeting the program’s sixth national title and Scheyer’s first since taking over for Mike Krzyzewski three years ago.
Flagg wasn’t even the first key Duke player to go down in Thursday’s ACC tournament opener. His injury came minutes after key reserve forward Maliq Brown re-dislocated the same shoulder that cost him four of Duke’s final five regular-season games.
“Maliq was in a lot of pain,” Scheyer said. “He’s at the hospital now. We’ll figure out how he’s doing. I’m going to try to figure out if I can go see him now.”
Before those injuries, Duke had hardly faced any adversity in weeks. The Blue Devils piled up a historic plus-434-point scoring differential in ACC play this season. They clinched the outright ACC regular-season title with last Saturday’s victory over North Carolina, ascended to the top spot in the AP Top 25 two days later and remained on pace to secure a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament on Selection Sunday.
To say that Flagg is key to Duke’s title hopes is the ultimate understatement. He is the projected No. 1 overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft and the favorite to become the fourth freshman ever to become college basketball’s national player of the year. Flagg averages a team-high 19.4 points per game this season and leads Duke in nearly every other major statistical category.
The offense will undoubtedly run through fellow Duke freshman and projected first-round pick Kon Kneuppel for as long as Flagg is hurt. Kneuppel had a career-high 28 points and eight assists on Thursday, showcasing the ability to hunt 3-pointers or to make plays off the bounce for himself and others.
Freshmen big Patrick Ngonba and guard Isaiah Evans are also likely to see more playing time with Flagg and Brown sidelined. Evans, in particular, was effective in the second half against Georgia Tech, scoring an efficient 14 points.
Defensively, Duke will miss Flagg’s activity off the ball the most. Fellow freshman Khaman Maluach provides adequate rim protection, but Flagg’s shot-blocking instincts, competitiveness and relentless motor will be hard to replace.
While Flagg did not return to Thursday’s game, he did walk back to the Duke bench during the second half under his own power and without a walking boot.
“Nothing easy,” the Nike-sponsored warmup shirt that he was wearing read.
How apropos.
